Welcomed Guests

 Writing this on Monday after taking friends from Maryland back to Manchester Airport.  They arrived on Thursday, mid-day for a nice long visit with us.

They have a bucket list of sorts to visit state capitols and since Concord was on our way home we stopped there for lunch and a tour of the capitol.

Will and Dan walking to the capitol.  Below is a significant milestone though I do believe that Maryland holds the record for the oldest capitol in continues use. 

An old print of the capitol.

Most capitols that I've visited required strict security checks before entering.  Nothing like that in sight for New Hampshire.  Here's the entry hall.

In the  visitor office I had my photo taken with President Biden and Vice President Harris.

The wall is covered with presidential bumper stickers.  NH has the first primary in the country so everyone entering the presidential race makes at least one visit here.

Besides being a Revolutionary War hero, Stark's claim to fame is the NH motto "Live Free or Die".  It comes from a toast he sent to a reunion gathering to mark the Battle of Bennington.  Poor health prevented him from attending.  The full toast was:

"Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils."

Here's the Senate chamber in the capitol with four large murals marking events in New Hampshire.

This is the Executive Council Chamber.  NH is unusual in that besides electing representatives (400 of them), senators (a whole lot fewer), and governor, there are 5 executive council members elected from 5 districts. It's to act as a check on the governor.  They were in the news recently for voting not to accept a lot of federal money to help with getting the Covid-19 vaccine more widely disseminated and to support health care workers.  It was recommended by the Health Department and supported by the governor but they voted 4-1 against it. As you'd expect it was 4 Republicans voted no and one lone Democrat voting yes.  

Here is the representative assembly room.  Seats are assigned.  Most business happens in committees and comes here for final votes.

Daniel Webster is a native son of NH. Though he later served as a senator from Massachusetts he was born and raised here.

Our sightseeing travels with our friends also took us to Patch Farm for the view, Woodstock, VT (at their request), St. Gaudens National Historic Site,  Mac's Maple for maple creamees, and locally to the meeting house, historical society and library.

Thank you for visiting Janet and Will!